That Human Freak and Its Pet
by Watersong77
Summary: Leah Wakeshima is 15 and a sophomore in high school. She hates-no despises- humans. But when a gift from an underworldian in the shape of the popular 'myth' slenderman appears in her house, restrained, will she take this call to action? Or refuse it? And will she get over her hatred of humans to save them? SLENDERxOC
1. Slender Beginnings

**A/N: Before you people go and comment about how this belongs in misc games, please actually research it first. At first, it was cute how the peasants were uneducated, but now it's kind of annoying. Please stop. If you actually put time into researching this myth, you would come to see that before it was ever a game it is a German myth. Please stop commenting about this. Thanks.**

A crisp, cool wind blew against my back, the clear, deep blue sky I had come to associate with fall shone brightly. It was sometime in November, and I had already added Christmas songs to my iPhone, in hopes as to get in the mood for the upcoming holidays. L'Arc~en~Ciel played loudly, drowning out the rest of the high school students that shuffled past, trying to get to their busses. Even through their 'Hurry Christmas' I could hear the odd conversation, though it was too soft to make out any words. My bus- 727- stood glinting against the sun as students filed around it, making their way to their own bus. As I climbed on, I took a glance at our bus driver, his beer belly pressed tight against the steering wheel. I shook my head, losing a bit of confidence in humanity. Well, a little bit of what was left. I hate humans. Their all stupid, and think they're so much better than anything (including each other) and honestly I wish I belonged to a different species. But there were a few exceptions. Like my late father for instance. I never met him, but everyone says he was an amazing man. Aurora Viper, a fellow sophomore is another exception. There's something different about her. I don't know her personally, but she's in my 5th period and is a riot when she's around that Cody kid. She's also number 2 in school wide grades. She's right below this freshman girl who she's also friends with. Cody is number 3 school wide, but I don't know him that well.

I flung my bag into the seat and flopped down next to it, lazily scooting my legs out of the aisle so other people could pass. Our bus really doesn't have that many people on it, so most people just claim one seat for their own. Though for some reason a bunch of people like to double up. Humans still continue to elude me.

After we picked the middle schoolers up, we headed down the normal route, the kids getting off one by one. No one talked to me, I didn't talk to anyone. I never really gave them any reason to like me. I wasn't very popular at school. I have straight black hair, usually pulled up into a pony tail. I always wear the same hoodie and jeans, though I usually wash them at night so they're not dirty in the morning. I always wear the same dirty black and white converse hi-tops and a pair of black rimmed glassed. My face is usually clear but occasionally breaks out. I have been labeled the outcast that even the outcasts don't want. Not that I mind. I hate people, as I probably made clear earlier. We pulled into my neighborhood, and the driver stopped at the first and only stop. My neighbor hood was a mile long and even though the driver still had to go to the cul-de-sac at the end of the neighborhood right next to my house, he still made me get off at the beginning of the neighborhood. I had to walk the rest of the way. Not that I mind, it gave me plenty of exercise, but every once in a while, it would be nice to get off at my house but whatever. I can deal. The wind was blowing again, and I breathed in the fresh fall air, filling my lungs with the scent of leaves. I readjusted my bag and checked my phone for any new messages. There was one, from my mom.

Mom: dont 4get 2 do ur H.W.

I sighed at her short hand. "Don't forget to do your homework." Good God, mom. I thought and I fumbled for the key that hung next to my school I.D. At my high school, your ID was your life. If you didn't have it, there was no way you could get lunch, or get into class rooms without it. The badge itself was pretty simple. Your picture, with your ID number and a barcode to scan for your lunch or a book from the library and the school logo. We were the falcons. I didn't mind. Falcons were pretty cool animals. I nudged the door open with my foot once I had unlocked it and shut it the same way, locking it back. I plopped my bag down onto the kitchen table and drew my Chinese text book from it.

Answer the following questions in Chinese:

你是住在那人？

你是哪国人？

你是英国人吗？

Hm, well, I live in America. I'm half German, and I am British. Citizenship wise, that is. So, I answer:

我住在美国。

我是德国人。

是。

I looked down at the rest of the page. I still 5 to go. I sighed and finished the rest quickly. My Chinese penmanship was horrendous, no doubt, but it was the best I could do. My teacher actually had told me today that I wrote like a kindergartener. I had laughed. I put my homework away and flipped on the Wii, selected Netflix and scrolled around trying to find "Sherlock". BBC really did have the best shows. I was halfway through 'A Scandal in Belgravia' for the 5th time and three question marks had just appeared beside _The Woman_ when a loud crash from upstairs got my attention. I shrugged it off at first, because I figured my Death Note poster had fallen again. But a couple minutes later, a female voice cursed and a window snapped shut. Then silence. Someone was up in my office. After dad died my mom left his office and never touched it again. So I took it over and made it my sketch and manga/anime room. There was a flat screen with an x-box attached. Anime movies/TV shows and games lay littered around it along with some CDs. In the corner, beside the door and opposite to the 4 pained window, was my dad's brown desk loaded with sketch pads, pencils, and professional markers. A bookshelf drowned in manga was in the opposite corner beside an egg chair that hung from the ceiling. My dad's hammock was on the wall beside that. All in all, it was my safe haven.

Which didn't sound so safe at the moment. I swallowed. I put the remote down, and slid quietly up the stairs, avoiding the creaky step. I reached the top and the door was right there. I pressed my ear to it.

Silence.

I reached for the door knob, but hesitated. What if it's still here? Oh, well.

As they say, YOLO.

I shook my head. Who the hell says that? Oh God, why. I twisted the knob open slowly anyway, and looked through the crack in the door. The window was on the opposite side of the room, I couldn't see that far. So, I threw open the door. Across the room, a black blob lay crumpled on the ground, a white note on top. I went over and picked it up, hands shaking. The Death Note poster still hung on the wall. I unfolded the letter.

_Leah!_

_ Leah, hey, yeah, so I hate to dump this on you so soon, but could you_

_Watch over this…eh…thing. He won't bite…well…but remind me Monday and I'll give you twenty bucks for this baby-sitting job._

_-Aurora Viper_

_P.S. If I were you, I wouldn't remove this note, it's acting as a sealant. Thanks._

A sealant? For what? Anyway, it was too late because the black blob began to move. I glanced at the clock. 20 minutes had passed since I had first heard the noise. It stirred and I saw flashed of pure white and the occasional navy blue. I backed up to the doorway. As it stood, I realized what 'it' was.

But that's…that's…


	2. An Ally's Attack

**Slender's POV**

I inwardly groaned. Would this human ever shut _up_? He had taken one look at me and ran like a frightened child. Aurora would have slaughtered him by now. I thought, as I slid silently through the trees. I was about tired of this game of cat and mouse and it really had lost its entertainment a while ago. I took another step forward and was near where the human was. Shadowporting, a type of teleporting by using the shadows, came in handy sometimes, though it was a pain to learn to control. Aurora would laugh her ass off every time I appeared in the middle of a crowded street, or in the middle of a court session, which happened more often than I would like to remember. But after awhile, I became accustomed to the odd way of traveling. It took a few times for me to get Aurora's attention to teach me though. She was always distracting with laughing at me. And it usually wasn't my fault. Plenty embarrassing, still usually not my fault.

My head snapped around and I stopped walking for a moment as I felt another life form enter my territory.

As the human saying goes: Speak of the devil and she shall appear.

Though I hadn't really said anything aloud…but as I turned to continue my chase, I was met with nothing by silence. The human had stopped screaming. Two life forms, in the clearing. I stepped forward again and ended up by the edge of the woods. Aurora had the human by his hair and was holding a white cloth to his mouth. He had stopped struggling and became limp in her arms. She lay him down slowly and spread out two strait black wings with tawny tips and sat back on the balls of her feet, laying her arms crossed across her bent knees. She turned her head slightly and caught sight of me, grinning broadly.

"Hello, peasant!" She yelled happily. "Gotten used to shadowporting yet?" I growled at her but she simply smiled. I still had yet to understand her obsession with the word 'peasant'.

_Is there something that you need?_ I growled, none too happy with her sudden appearance. I figured she was just here to taunt me. Though we were close, as friends of course, she still liked to tease me, but I figure she does that to everyone so what's the harm? But her face, instead of turning into the crooked grin it would hold, turned serious. Grave, if you will. A cold chill went down my spine. I had seen her with that expression one other time, but that's a story for another place and time.

"The Underworld isn't safe anymore." She said. I was confused, slightly. She was saying the equivalent of 'war isn't safe'. Well, we all know it isn't, so why bring it up now? I guess I was about to find out.

_With Cannon in charge, it never was._ I replied, but she shook her head. Something must have happened.

"Slenderman." Down to business. She never called me by my full human-given name unless it was serious "Humans have created more, and they've started to find their way to my home. We let you in because we knew you were stable. But these…things…are killing my people. Cutting them down one by one. Those things…they're looking for the original." It clicked then. She wasn't here for every other visit she gave me, she needed something. I knew she would need me for something like this one day, but I never figured…

_Is there…something you need? _I tried to keep emotion from my voice. Emotion was for humans, I was the Slenderman. A cold, heartless killer. But the thought of what was to come made me nervous, made me want to crawl from my skin. It was hard to swallow and I fidgeted as I waited for her calculated answer. I felt like a three year old child. Scared and vulnerable. When she started pulling faces, I knew she having an argument with one of the 8 deities in her head. Let me elaborate. In the Underworld (which is _not_ Hell, actually it looks a lot like your human realm) there is the Viper family. In the short line of Vipers, each child has been one form of Death or another. They are the family that started the Underworldian Empire we know today. Empress Viper, the 3rd Death was Aurora's mother. Her father, Cannon, tried to kill her mother to take the power of Death for himself, but Viper held out. She soon passed on her own soul, giving the title of Death to her eldest, and only, son. He is in power and acting as the 4th Death until Aurora, who possess the true family power of death is ready. Before she becomes Death, she has to join the small circle of deities created by shattering their hourglass (the thing that holds the time for the length of any living thing's life. It is shaped as an hourglass). There are always 8 in power at once. One for each of earth's continents and one for the Viper family weapon, Yaiba. It literately translates to 'blade' which is exactly what he is. He _is_ the Death's scythe. Except on this one occasion. Aurora's older brother, the one acting as Death now, hates Yaiba, so Aurora has elected to use him instead of her brother. I've personally witnessed the two training together and they're closer than a mother and her child. But whatever the 8 of them are arguing over must be important; otherwise Aurora would have already sorted it out.

"Look." Aurora's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up, meeting her vibrant icy blue eyes. She sighed and walked over towards me. Automatically my guard went up. I didn't know why, exactly, but I knew something was wrong. My epiphany confirmed a moment later when shot forward, her foot narrowly missing my face, or lack thereof, by mere inches. _Her_ face stayed the same, though I could practically hear her mind reeling. Her movements were stiff, as though it hurt to move. The way she was fighting, it was as though she had never fought this style, and it was uncomfortable, but I knew her. Her movements in battle were usually so fluent, and never as slow as they were now. They were always direct hits. Even now, when she wasn't at her full battle form, it took a lot from me to keep up with her. There was pain in her eyes. She didn't want to attack me. She did plenty of times during training. This led me to one conclusion:

She was going for the kill.

I was distracted and snapped a crescent kick across the side of my face. I crumpled. I saw her face hover over mine.

"I'm sorry, Slendy. Orders from the top."

Darkness.


	3. Regret

**Aurora's POV**

I sat crouched on a branch. And though it was 3 am, I was wide awake. Of course I wasn't used to this time zone, and I was headed back to America just as soon as I completed this assignment. Where ever I was, it was pretty headed towards Slender's territory, but now that I was on edge of it, I saw nothing but dead trees and well, the personification of 'abandon'. There were no birds, no bugs, not even the stray lizard. The place I was before had the nice fall chill, but it was still warm. His territory was cold, empty. I sighed and stepped forward into the trees hopping forward from branch to branch. The moment I stepped forward, crossing the territory's border, a loud, obnoxious human's screams filled my ears, making me cringe. I closed in on their scent and followed them for a minute. He was running in circles, not that it was his fault. But I could tell that Slendy was getting bored with him. He was rather obnoxious. So when he passed by a clearing that he would never see, I flew into his side, both of us tumbling across the cold, slightly moist ground. He struggled under me, and even though he could see me, he wanted up. A panicked human is blind. I pulled a cloth drenched in chloroform and pressed it to his mouth. He struggled, and I tried my best not to break his neck, but eventually he passed out, and fell limp into my arms. I sighed. I lay him down slowly and turned to the German entity that stood at the edge of the clearing, hidden by the shadows. His blank face watched the scene, though he did look a little annoyed that _his_ kill had been taken down by me. So my assumption that he was bored was right. He had just been moving in for the kill. I sat back and fluffed out my wings out, grinned at his tense position.

"Hello, peasant!" I yelled, trying to annoy him. "Gotten used to Shadow porting yet?" The poor kid. When he first learned to use this power, he couldn't control it, though he had enough control over it to keep him limbs intact. I heard him sigh.

_Is there something that you need?_ He growled, still bent up over the fact that he couldn't shadowport. But what _did_ I need. I turned serious. Now wasn't the time to be playing around, but I did need that human to shut up. As I stated before, he was rather obnoxious. Slender tensed. He hadn't seen me like this in a long time, and I hope it's along time before any sees me like this again.

"The Underworld isn't safe." I figured I would have to elaborate, because nowhere, anywhere really is actually fully safe. He cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms.

_With Cannon in charge, it never was._ I almost laughed. What he said was true, though he didn't fully understand why. The Viper family, the line of Deaths, has always been on top of the government ruling the Underworld without a political agenda. That's what's kept the Underworld safe from the prying eyes of the humans for so long. But that wasn't was I was here for.

"Slenderman." I wasn't joking around today and the way he stiffened, he knew it too. "Humans have created more, and they've started to find their way to my home. We let you in because we knew you were stable. But these…things…are killing my people. Cutting them down one by one. Those things…they're looking for the original." He knew what I meant by the original. He straitened and uncrossed his arms.

_Is there…something that you need?_ He repeated. If I didn't know him so well, I would have missed the apprehension in his voice. It was light, but it was still there. And to hear it hurt.

_S.F._ I called out to the deity that assigned me this mission._ I can't do this!_ He snarled back through the mind link.

_If you don't, Aleyesu will. Or better yet, I'll do it myself._ My heart jumped.

_S.F., I can't hurt him. You knew he's was my former student, so why assign me this mission?_

_Why indeed, S.F.?_ My brother asked, speaking up.

_I could have done it._ Anubis, yes like the Egyptian God, said. I almost smiled. S.F. was being such an ass lately, I'm glad I don't have to put up with him myself.

_Aurora is the only one who can find it and stick it in the right house._ S.F. growled, trying to make his point.

_She could have brought one of us to him and then we gone in— _Anubis was cut off.

_Well it's too late, so yes Aurora. You _do_ have to do this._ The link was broken. I felt like I was gonna cry. I really did care for my former student, and want to have to attack him because of it.

_Sorry, sis._ My brother's voice entered my mind. I almost shrugged, but it would have been pointless because he can't see me.

_How do I attack him like this?_ I practically shouted. He sighed.

_Think of it as a training session._ He said. Fair enough.

"Look," I started. Slender's head snapped up and turned so fast, I'm pretty surprised he didn't get whiplash. I looked him straight in the face.

_Aurora?_

_Stay put Yaiba._ I said, answering my weapon's call. I took in a breath and what I smelled almost broke me. I could smell it, his fear. He was scared of me. I understood why, but I didn't want to admit it. He knew something was about to happen. I had trained him well, I thought silently. I shot forward and attempted to kick him. But I could barely move. Attacking an ally was not something I never wanted to do. I wasn't move as fast as I should have, but I could tell he was trying his best to keep up. He had gotten rusty and once we're out of this mess, I'd come back and retrain him. No student of mine fights this bad. I slung a kunai but I redirected it at the last moment so it wouldn't hit him soon. He shadowported to behind me, and I turned, kicking out, but I caught the tree instead of him. I could barely look at him, and his mind was reeling as he tried to doge attack after attack. But he never fought back. It wasn't like him, he always fought back. Another couple kunai flew, followed closely by a shuriken. I could use the scythe, but I couldn't bring myself to summon him and put Slender in that kind of danger. Yaiba was practically begging me to fight, but every time he tried to speak, I blocked him out. I didn't want to hear his whining right now. I would deal with him later. Slender dodged another kick and I was about to turn around for another attack, when the scent hit me head on.

Fear.

Cold, black fear.

He thought I was going to kill him. And I took his distraction to snap a kick across the side of him head. When he crumpled, I caught him.

"I'm sorry, Slendy." I managed. "Orders from the top."

He went limp.

I could barely breathe. I just attacked an ally, an ally that was my former student. I really am a monster. I picked his long, thin form up and opened my 17' black wings, and took to the skies. Slender was lighter than he looked, but after an hour of flying, he was getting heavy. I skimmed the edge of the atmosphere, not even bothering trying to breathe. There was no oxygen up here for me to breath. I was glad I was a deity because I wouldn't suffocate. We were over the Atlantic when I finally got to an altitude where I could breathe properly and I took in a lung full of cold, fresh air. I had ten minutes and used up what strength I had left for the last leg of the trip, landing none too gracefully in Leah Wakeshima's backyard. I climbed the wall and slid the window open silently. She had been him for quite some time, and I could hear the Wii starting up downstairs. I pulled out a sheet of paper and quickly scribbled a note down onto it. I put a small spell in ancient shadow across the back and taped to Slender's crumpled form. If she was as smart as I knew she was, she would leave the not in him, and lean over to read it. I crouched by him for a couple minutes. Finally I sighed and stood to go. But as I turned, I tripped over one of the German's extras. I hit the ground relatively hard, and made a not-as-quiet-as-I-would-have-liked crash. I got onto my hands and knees and cursed. When I realized there was no noise from downstairs, I threw open the window and jumped out, slamming it behind me, shadowporting back to the Underworld.


	4. Honey, I'm Home!

She growled, pacing back and forth. Her wings were fluffed out, her fangs bared. Her black bangs fell in her face, covering her eyes. Her hands were behind her back, and although at this moment, her feathers were beyond sharp, her arms and hands still had yet to obtain a scratch. Another snarl sounded from her and the 27 year old that sat at a table near her looked up.

"Aurora, before you tear up the carpet, can you please stop pacing." He looked back down at his desk and continued to fill out his paper work. Aurora rounded on him and her fists went to her side.

"Death back off." She growled. He held up his hands and turned his head back to his papers. She flopped down on the couch opposite, lying down on her stomach. Death looked up.

"One of these days you'll break that couch." He said, glancing up at her. Not really feeling the urge to response like she normally would have, she simply held up a hand, flipping him off. He laughed and went back to signing the papers. "You know you're not going anywhere with that attitude." He said. He looked up once more and frowned at her. "So what's wrong?" She looked up and sighed. Aurora sat up straight, putting her head in her hands.

"He was my student, Death. And I should have killed him. That was my assigned mission anyway." She sounded…sad. It was the first time he had seen her in this kind of venerable state.

"Aurora, deity to deity, I know it's hard." She looked up at him.

"I'm just S.F.'s dog."

Silence.

She heard it before she felt it.

THAWP!

She reached up and touched the side of her face, the skin hot beneath her cool fingers. She looked up at her brother, her eyes wide with shock. He had barely moved, but he needn't. All he had to do was move the shadows with enough speed to get the force he needed. He was furious. He had never raised a hand against her, but deep down she knew she had deserved it.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself and go and fight the demon yourself. I will help you if you need it, but this depression doesn't suit you, so snap out of it." Her eyes glowed for a moment before she flew at her brother. He was on defense in a moment, but it wasn't necessary. She was hugging him.

"Thanks bro."

Two Weeks Later…

Saturday.

November 24, 2012.

21:27

The doors to the Senior Council building were thrown open with excessive force, slamming against the outside walls, making the Underworldians passing the building jump and glance into the door way. B.M., who had been waiting outside, turned her head to see a very calm looking Aurora come out of the building a somewhat smug expression on her face. She passed, humming a victory tune. Death stuck his head out of the door way, frowning at her.

"Aurora, could you please refrain from slamming the doors, I really don't want to have to replace them." She turned to her elder brother and gave him a toothy grin.

"But brother—" He cut her off.

"I don't care, don't slam the doors." And he receded, said doors closing softly behind him. She shrugged and turned towards her best friend.

"B.M." The black haired girl snapped out of her trance and turned to look at Aurora.

"Oh, yeah sorry, what?" Aurora gave her a weird look.

"Coming? I have to go fetch an Underworldian from the human realm." B.M. flying tackled her.

"Yay! Let's go!" She grabbed Aurora's hand and dragged her into the portal by the gate. As the darkness closed around the two Underworldian females, she heard someone yell something unintelligible. She ignored it, thinking that it wasn't important.

The darkness let up, becoming light. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the human world's sun light, or lack thereof, considering it was 7 at night in the middle of winter. B.M. opted to stay in the mirrors, the ghost loyal to her home. Aurora hopped out, and stretched before jerking at the sound of yelling.

_GET OFF! _

"AS SOON AS YOU HOLD STILL!"

_HUMAN I SAID GET OFF!_

"AND I SAID HOLD STILL!" Aurora frowned, and followed the voices, not exactly sure what was happening. She walked down stairs, carefully though, as to not make a sound. Not that it would have been heard, but it was better to assume they would. She slid into the room quietly and all she could do was stand dumbstruck at the scene before her. She human girl, Leah, had Slender pinned to the ground, duct tape in one hand, a sketch book in the other. Aurora put the pieces together quickly, but she still found it odd to her student—former student— pinned to the floor by a mere human.

_IF YOU DO—_ Slender paused mid sentence his head slowly coming around to meet Aurora's expression. Leah followed his gaze and frowned at Aurora.

"Oh, hello."

_So casual._ Slender growled at her. She glared down at him, kneeing his side. He hissed in response, struggling again to get out from underneath the psychotic human female.

"We're classmates, dumb ass." She sneered.

_That's not what I'm speaking of._ The German snapped back at her.

"Alright, ladies." Aurora sighed, exasperated. Leah jumped up, giving Aurora a side hug.

"Oh, by the way, it's been 3 weekends. So you owe me 60 bucks." Aurora laughed. She pulled out her walled and handed over the money. Leah looked at her shocked. "I didn't actually mean…you know what? Whatever, I'm taking the money." She shoved the bills into her pocket, sending a foot back when Slendy muttered something. Slendy stood up. Aurora frowned at him, and Leah realized how tall Aurora really was. Slendy, in his shrunken (ish) state was no more than 6' 8". Aurora was a little more than 6' 4". Her baggy clothing made her look shorter. Aurora kicked off her flip flops, and pulled out her phone. Aurora folded her legs and floated in the air, typing something into her phone and then grinning. Leah looked shocked.

"How do you—how is that—is that even possible?" Aurora looked up from her phone.

"Eh? Oh, what you're surprised?" She glanced back at her phone for a moment. "After meeting him" She pointed at Slenderman, who stood passively, half paying attention to the conversation. "You're surprised that I can float?" Leah started to say something but was cut off by a loud humming sound. The sound of grinding metal echoed around the mostly empty house. The three of them were alert instantly, frozen in their spots. The door to the garage slowly opened, a woman's voice calling in.

"Leah-honey, I'm home!"


	5. Sand of Time

"Leah-honey, I'm home!"

My brain went into overdrive. I pushed Leah towards the door, and grabbed the human created deity by his throat and dragged him to the window. It was dark enough outside, so the window acted as a mirror. B.M. appeared a split second later, floating upside down in the mirror. I rolled my eyes at her and shoved Slendy towards the mirror. B.M. righted herself, and wrapped her arms around the German's shoulders, pulling his back into her chest. She gave me a small wave, and dragged Slendy into the mirror.

"Come on, sexy, back to the Underworld." She purred. I simply shook my head flopped onto the couch.

"Leah, act as though I'm your guest." I whispered to Leah, right before said human's mother walked in.

"Oh, Leah I—who's this?" She chirped, smiling sweetly at me. Leah turned to look at me then back to her mother.

"Oh, this is my friend Aurora from school." Leah said, smoothly with a hint of chill. I had a feeling the coldness was directed toward her mother. She, Leah's mom, picked up on this and her cheery features fell a bit.

"Oh, okay sweetie." She came forward for a hug, but Leah ducked under arms and grabbed my hand, dragging me upstairs. "Where are you going?"

"Upstairs." Leah replied curtly. She pulled me into her room and shut the door behind her. She sighed and jumped onto her bed. She picked up her Edward Elric plushy and gazed at it, inspecting it. I looked around her room. I had yet to see it, her room that is. Art supplies lay strewn across the room. Anime posters, 8 if I counted correct, were pinned to her walls, the German flag on her ceiling right next to an L'Arc~en~Ciel poster. Sketches of different things were everywhere. A Hetalia: World Series was beside a Naruto poster of Garra. Across from that was Sgt. Frog's Dororo. Edward Elric was stopped in motion while attacking Roy Mustang. Underneath the two posters were three Pokémon posters. I smiled. I sat down on a beanbag chair across from where she lay. I was playing with some shadows, twisting them around my finger when Leah spoke up.

"What's it like?" I looked over.

"Hm?"

"The Underworld—what's it like?" She stopped staring at her doll and turned over, her body facing me. "Slendy told me, but I want to know what it's like from you." I nodded.

"Well, it's just like the human realm, but cleaner, I guess. It's the human Utopia, but…it's far from perfect. Corrupt government, mobs running the city, its just…it was better when my mom ran the place."

"The underworld is a dictatorship?" Leah asked curiously. I jerked. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but…I laughed.

"In a way. It's hard to explain." At that moment, her door opened, her mom walking in with a tray full of snacks.

"I got this for you and your friend." She chirped happily.

"My friend has a name." Leah snapped. Her mom looked taken aback and frowned down at me.

"Alice, right?" I smiled.

"No, sorry it's Aurora, ma'am." She gave me a sheepish look.

"Sorry, Aurora-dear." She placed the tray on top of the TV and closed the door softly behind her retreating figure.

"Wanna play a game?" Leah asked, walking towards the TV. I nodded.

About thirty minutes later, we were in a space fight playing Star Wars Battlefront II, our favorite game.

"10!" I shouted, slamming my finger into the controller as we engaged in an epic battle.

"7!" She yelled back. We were yelling because her mom had left about 10 minutes prior and we were going all out on this game. I had swore multiple times in shadow, her in German which I found entertaining. I could understand her, not that I knew the language, it translated itself in my head. Deities have this power we nicknamed the TARDIS effect because of…well. You get the point. I was about to take down my 15th fighter when something large and heavy crashed into me. My controller flew off to the side and I was slammed into the wall. Leah let out a small scream of shock.

"LEAVE!" I looked up to see a guard, one I knew in particular, retreat into the shadows. I looked over to see what had slammed into me. I groaned and helped Slender up.

"You know, you really have gotten rusty. I know who's going through another Hell Week." I sighed, ignoring his glare. "What'd you do anyway?"

_Nothing._ He snapped._ He just dragged me into a portal and threw me back here._

"Still hostility towards H.C.s?" I asked quietly to myself. I walked into the hallway and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed a number and waited for three rings before they answered.

"Anime For All and All For Anime, this is Casey. How can I help you?" A female voice asked, sounding cheerful, just what I knew her for.

"Hey Ookami, I need to talk to you."

"Oh, hey babe. How's it?"

"Great, you know Matt?"

"My guard?"

"Hai, well, could you maybe talk to him later?" She sighed, exasperated. Someone on the other side said something and she replied with a 'it's just my friend, Charlie'. Her boss was pretty chill and gave her a hard time about pretty much everything. That's why I liked him. He was loud and pretty obnoxious sometimes, like someone straight out of an anime.

"I'm going to guess it's about 'the problem'." I nodded, though I knew she couldn't see me. "You know you should have kept the trial thingy on the down low. But no, you had to go bragging to everyone about how you beat Cannon." Again, she sighed.

"Yeah, well, he needs to learn his place." I frowned. I really hated Cannon. Like _really_ hate him. I hope he gets Andrew Hussied. Or killed by Ivan Braginski's faucet thing or something. He deserves to die slowly. Ookami laughed.

"Yeah, I'll talk to him later. By the way, how's Lexi r whatever that human's name is."

"Leah, and she's fine. Have fun at your job."

"Alright, by babe, see ya later." I hung up, and slid the phone into my pocket.

_I already told you no._ I walked into Leah's room to see Leah staring the serial killer in his eye (?) her arms crossed.

"Please! It won't take long!"

"And what are you two talking about again?" I asked slowly, not exactly sure if I wanted to know.

"I want to sketch him, but he's being a gay fag and won't let me." She glared at said killer and he glared back.

"Sketch like one of your French girls?" I asked under my breath. Slender's head whipped around.

_Please do not bring that up._ He spat, with an almost warning tone.

"Bring what up?" Leah asked.

_Nothing._ Slender snapped as the time I said:

"Oh, a fond memory of mine." I smiled evilly. Leah's grin curved and she looked like a demon for a moment.

"Oh goody." She said. "Story time."

Somewhere Else Completely

The black haired, 27 year old groaned. Not again, he thought. He popped his neck and ran his hand over the bone, trying to calm down. A blonde stood in front of him, more or less, a sheer black demon's tentacles wrapped around the body. The man appeared to be sleeping, his head drooped and eyes closed. One of his fingers twitched and the black haired male winced slightly. This would probably turn out to be a pain in the ass.

"Aleyesu, what is this?" He asked, turning towards the giant grey wolf. The wolf turned his head and stared at the man, his neon blue eyes boring into the man's.

"The future, the past, the present." He replied, turning his attention once gain back towards the form trapped in the hour glass, both figures frozen in time. They could move, no doubt, but they were still stuck like that, in that place. He watched as the demon's lips turned upwards, curling to his eyes, teeth bared. It was relatively creepy.

"Aleyesu. You know what I mean." The wolf smirked.

"Yes, well." He sat down, his tail wrapping around his paws. "I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you this. The awakening is coming, and I can assure you, this one's gonna be messy."

"How so?"

"When people are ripped apart from the inside out, please don't complain about the paperwork. Fix it, would you? It's the best thing." A growl came from the human-like creature. His eyes flared and shadows wrapped around his feet.

"Aleyesu, what did you do?"

"Me? I did nothing. But you were right about the humans." The wolf added softly. This seemed to calm the other male down. He sighed, and crossed his arms.

"And what about Aurora?" He asked, his voice a different tone, the same he used every time he referred to his sister. Aleyesu and Anubis had been the only ones ever to hear him like this. He couldn't say he enjoyed hearing his friend worry. At least he still had emotions, unlike some Underworldians the wolf knew.

"She'll retrieve him. When time comes."

"Should I even bother to ask how she'll know?" The wolf shook his head.

"Don't bother, because even I don't fully understand her." The man laughed slightly, though it was tense and sounded a little forced.

"It's alright, I don't think anyone does." He turned and bowed to the wolf. "Thank you Aleyesu, for showing me this. I will pass the information to my sister." The wolf nodded, already knowing what parts the black haired man would leave out.

"Of, course, good bye for now." And with that the man disappeared with a crack of shadows, leaving the wolf to his territory. Sand stretched for as far as he could see, hour glassed of all shapes and sizes surrounding him. He walked forward, his paws gliding along the sands. The Land of Time was his, and he was here to protect it. But for how much longer? He wondered.

The humans were closing in fast.


	6. Savior or Attacker?

**A/N: This will be one of the few authors notes I will include in this series, but I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving. Thank to all of you. Three claps for favs and reviews.**

***clap clap clap***

"_Atrocious."_

"_Beautiful."_

"_Atrociously beautiful?" _

_Silence._

"_Moron."_

"_How the hell is it atrocious?" _

"_Look at it, it's got no face."_

"_That's rude."_

"_Sorry Alex."_

"_No, but look, it's beautiful because it's got no face. It's…pure?"_

"_Allen?"_

"_Yes Taz?"_

"_You're so stupid; I don't even know how you got into this laboratory."_

"_Can't we make peace?"_

"_Alex, shut up!" Allen and Taz chorus. You guess that was their names. Your scenes are numb and you couldn't see anything. You try to open your eyes, but you find that you can't move. You feel odd. Cold, almost, but you feel hot also. Like burning water on cold feet._

_Again you try to move to no avail. There is a beeping sound in the back ground. It's starting to annoy you._

"_Looks like it's awake." Allen says._

"_Make yourself useful and check vitals, would you Alex?" Tav snaps. You hear shuffling and two, cold rubbery hands press against your bare chest. You flinch slightly and the hands immediately retract._

"_Sorry." A soft voice says. It is the one called Alex. You realize that he might not be that bad. He is timid compared to the others, but you find you don't mind. You feel scared, and his voice comforts you. A loud creaking sound echoes through your ears, and you turn your head towards the source, though you cannot yet see._

"_Hey Sollux." Allen says in a mocking tone. There is a huff from the door._

"_Thut up, Allen." It is male. He speaks with a lisp._

"_Hello Jason." Alex says kindly, moving as Jason approaches._

"_Hello, Alecth."_

"_Hello to you too, computer geek." Taz snarls. Jason ignores him, paying the angry man no mind. Again, tow cold hands are pressed against you chest and your heads whips around to where Alex is standing. You still cannot see, but that doesn't mean you can't sense things. There is the sound of keyboard clicks and something sharp is inserted into your temple. You whimper and someone laughs._

"_Look, the monster is in pain."_

"_Allen, please don't."_

"_What are you gonna do, inspect me?" Allen laughs cruelly. Alex sighs. _

"_I really am sorry." He says quietly. This statement is directed at you. You lay flat again. You are starting to get a migraine. You don't understand why._

_Slowly, your vision returns to you, you're lying in a lab, restrained to a cold metal table. You see an unusually sharp image of…well, everything. Your sight has improved. You look around._

"_Can you see?" You turn your head towards a human who is standing beside you. He half smiles at you. His face is almost completely gone; his skin is stretched over almost completely flat bone. All that remains is a quarter of a mouth and an eye. He has no nose. You notice he has short cropped light brown hair and his eye was a yellow colour, like that of a cat's. This is Alex. He looks at you puzzled for a moment, before understanding comes over his face, or what is left of it. He reaches up and touched the stretched out skin. "Kinda creepy huh?" You shake your head. You are far too well mannered to even imagine being rude. Saying yes would have been rude, although you thought that it was kind of creepy yourself. He laughs slightly._

"_Alex, do your job and quit making conversation with that monstrosity." Allen snaps at Alex. You wonder why he keeps calling you such names. Something glimmers, catching your attention. You turn your face upwards and see something you wish you would have never seen._

"What do you mean, go fish?" Leah demanded.

"Exactly what I mean, go fish, I don't have any aces!" I said in response, glaring at her. She huffed and took another card from the pile.

"Whatever, your turn."

"Do you have any sevens?" I asked, folding my legs underneath me. She slammed her hand down onto the table.

"GOD I HATE YOU AURORA!" I simply laughed as she handed over three sevens. I put the four cards down and out my hands in my lap.

"I win." I had 9 sets, she had 3. She threw down her remaining cards and stormed off towards the kitchen, probably off to get some water or something. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a new text from my best friend, B.M.

B.M.- hey do you still have those homestuck tracks

Me- Strider's?

B.M.- yup

Me- Hai, why?

B.M.- think I'm gonna use tonight at the party

Me- I thought you made your own records?

B.M.- yeah but I need something new and I want to see how many people get it.

Me- Cosplay night?

B.M.- yup

Me- Bound to be some homstuckians. Text me if there is. Btw the tracks are in the cabinet in the senior council building, should be in the third drawer down

B.M.- actually, can you get them

Me- why does my brother scare you or something

B.M.- or something

Me- no, you can get it yourself

That was the last text in the conversation, if she wanted the tracks she could get them herself. I considering going to get my laptop, but honestly I was too lazy to get up. Talk about a hypocrite. So reluctantly, I stood and trudged up the stairs. Yaiba, who had somehow snuck into the house without me knowing, looked up from the couch. I had missed his presence the past couple of days. He was out with a Guard Sector for training. I think he was mostly there because his girlfriend was in the sector, but I wasn't complaining. He probably got in some good hours there. I respected his girlfriend. Rose was kick ass and pretty smart. I never thought it would work out between them, since Yaiba is stupid, but I heard them talking in private, and I swear that Yaiba grew 200 IQ points higher that day.

"Hey, Aurora." He said, as if he had just noticed me. I hadn't just been yelling at Leah about go fish.

"Hey Yaiba."

"Where you off to?"

"I have to get something, do you want to come?" I added, my tone mocking. He glared at me and opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Leah.

"You really need to downsize. What do you do with all of this space?"She asked. We were all at my human house, the one I was raised in for the majority of my human life. "It's like the Wayne Manor." I laughed. I hadn't heard that one before.

"There are usually a lot more people here." I said, sitting down on the step.

"Doing what? And who?" I frowned.

"Well, everyone really. There's a closed off space in the basement—"

"You mean the dungeon." Yaiba corrected. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You have a dungeon?" Leah asked her eyes wide. I shook my head.

"No we don't, Yaiba's exaggerating. Again." I muttered the last part purely for my benefit, but form the growl I received; I would assume he heard it too. I flashed him a grin and continued my explanation. "Anyway, there's a closed off section that's used as a gateway between the human realm and the realm of mirrors which is what B.M. uses to travel." Really, I didn't like that thing in the basement, but it wasn't an issue. If B.M. needed it, I guess it would stay there a little while longer.

"Wait…but I thought teleporting was the only way you could travel. Like Slender."

"Shadowporting? Yeah, there's a couple different ways and that's one of them. He primarily uses shairtasis, but I guess it comes close."

"Shairtasis?"

"Sakura-stepping, in English. It uses the shadows as a doorway more or less as where shadowporting uses the shadows and shadow tubes to travel. Shadowporting is usually used for long distances, such as Japan to England, or the Human Realm to the Underworld. Sakura-stepping is for like transporting yourself from right here," I paused and wrapped myself in the shadows momentarily before welcoming back the light right beside Yaiba, "to here." Yaiba jumped and glared at me, which I ignored. I felt the air pressure tighten beside me.

"Or like this." I said, and I pointed my hands to where Anubis appeared a moment later. He was in his human form and walked, more of limped to the other side of the room before disappearing again.

Yaiba gave me a weird look, thinking the same thing I was. I caught a faint trace of blood running through the air. I recognized the scent, and I looked for the cause. On the floor, there were tracks of blood. I frowned. I knew he could take care of himself, and that was probably the tracks of human blood, but something worried me. He hadn't been himself lately.

"Is he alright?" Leah asked, looking down at the tracks. I nodded.

"Yeah, he's fine."

"He doesn't seem like it." I chose to ignore her comment.

"So what was up with you two the other night? What were you trying to restrain him for?" I asked. Yaiba choked on his water.

"I'm sorry, you were _what_?" I laughed at Leah's tomato face.

_I would think he would be against bondage._ Yaiba muttered in my head. He was one of the 8 deities. He could do that. I almost choked myself. I turned and glared down at him.

_Thanks, for ruining everything Yaiba._ He simply grinned. I kicked him in his shin and earned a satisfying grunt of pain. Pansy.

"I was trying to get a sketch of him."

"Why?" Yaiba asked.

"It's the new trend," I joked. Yaiba rolled his eyes, brushing back his black hair.

"Because, since we've met, I've always wanted to get a sketch of him. I mean, I've already got sketches from previous years, but I want this to be like, legit." She said. Yaiba pulled a 'not bad' face.

"Fair enough." He said. There was a loud vibration through the air, causing both Yaiba and I to be on alert. The room fell silent. Yaiba shifted in his seat, in a half crouch next to me. His hair become a pure white, the red transmutation circle looking thingy appearing on his face, his grey eyes turning red. His teeth sharpened to a blade like substance.

"Yaiba." I said. It was a warning both ways. I needed him to calm down, but I needed him to be able to shift at any moment. Blood spilt onto the floor from a portal floating a little above the ground. The shadows came up and around the portal, slowly shifting into a form.

"Shadow Skill: true form." It was barely more than a whisper, but Yaiba heard it clearly, and in the next moment I could feel the handle of the scythe slide against my hands as it shifted into its full length. The form itself came into view, the shadows dispersing. Leah recognized him before I did. Pretty sad actually.

"Slender!" She pushed past me, grabbing his shoulders. He pushed her to the side slightly, so he could look squarely at me.

_There's no point in running of they're already here._


	7. Hell Hounds

Hell hounds shot through an open shadow portal, going for Slender. I launched myself into one of the animal's sides and tackled it to the ground. I ripped its throat open with the scythe and turned to see two of my comrades already engaged in battle with it. My second in command, Fighter, was in wolf form rolling around, clawing and biting. The Sector 7 leader, Monster, a close friend of mine was fighting the real monster off with a knife. He ducked when the hound flew at him and he twisted, dragging the blade down the hound's stomach as it sailed over his head. I nodded to him as he caught my eye and raced across the room to attack the hound that was sneaking up behind Fighter. I abandoned the scythe and changed to my own wolf form half way across the room. Yaiba changed back to his human form and went to battle with Monster. I leaped over Fighter and grabbed the hound by its throat with my teeth, pulling it away from my second in command and ripping the throat's skin with it. He glanced back at me, his eyes saying thanks. I nodded and threw down the hound, the demon bleeding to death on the floor. I turned to help Fighter with his pest, but before I could, a scream echoed across the room and a mass of black and white shot past me. I tuned in time to see my former student drop in front of Leah, arms outstretched. The hound's claws were at his throat before it was impaled by tentacles that ripped at its internal organs. But I could see it before it happened.

The hound had gotten him before he could get the hound.

Blood spilled onto the floor, covering Slender's clothes and splattering against the now dead hound's face. He dropped the hound and slumped backwards, breathing heavily. He turned his head towards me.

Sorry. He muttered before fully slumping. Leah whimpered and shook his shoulders lightly.

"Slender?" She muttered, tears welling up in her eyes. I moved her out of the way, and pressed my palm against his blood-drenched chest. He was still alive. Barely, but still alive. I turned my head towards Fighter. He nodded once and disappeared. Leah looked at me, her gaze burning into the top of my head. With out looking at her, I said:

"He'll be fine, Leah, don't worry." She didn't seem reassured by my words, but she did relax a little. I turned to her. "Leah, please don't flip your shit." She gave me an odd look before I opened my wings for the first time in front of her, all 18 feet of pure white tipped black feathers. Her eyes went wide.

"What are you…" she trailed off, stopping when my wings began to glow a light blue colour. I could feel my student's wounds closing beneath my finger tips, the blood drying. He groaned and his breathing became normal, less shallow. I sat back on my heels.

"I did what I could he's still pretty injured, but he'll live for now." Leah glanced at me, worried. I nodded twice.

"Yeah, he'll live...for now."

**sorry about the shortness and mistakes, ill fix it later. **


	8. Mind Attack

**Okay guys! Update yay!**

**I apologize for the hiatus but I have been catching up on a lot of stuff lately and well…..i kind of of forgot? But don't worry! You get two chapter updates today! **

**Also a warning. This chapter sucks balls so if you want to skip it, be my guest you wont miss anything huge.**

**As usual ill fix it at a later date. (because it needs serious fixing)**

Aurora had somehow managed to pry Leah away from Slender and had put said person's limp form on a cot Echo had brought. With a little mental nudging she had gotten Slender to shrink to a slightly less…_taller_ version of himself. With him in place, she decided to get to work.

It was inconvenient, really, deities and their stupid biology. Aurora always thought it was _adorable _that only deities could heal other deities. She thought about calling for Anubis or Ookami but thought better of it. This deity, human made or not, was German. Meaning, somewhat unfortunately, that he fell in her jurisdiction. She would never feel contempt for him, well enough to abandon him, but he was sometimes a pain. Over the years, he had, somehow, put up a nice sturdy mental barrier. And for some reason that had disturbed Aurora.

However, right at this moment she needed access to that mind. She paced for a couple minutes thinking about how to go about this. A strait forward attack on his mind barriers would be bad for both of them, and probably land her with a massive migraine. She wasn't in favor of another one. Finally, she decided on a slow approach.

"Alright listen Slendy, I need you to just…." She paused and sighed. There was no point. She wasn't talking _to_ him she was talking _at _him at this moment. So she stepped forward to get it over with. She wasn't afraid of her student, not in the least, but she was wary of him. When she had let him loose into the human world, she knew he would adapt. He _had_ to, but it shocked her somewhat to find how well he had adapted. She crouched near him, placing both thumbs on either temple, her first fingers toward the center of his forehead. "Alright." She said quietly to herself. "Here goes nothing." She closed her eyes and reopened the long dormant connection. No doubt they had a mind link, but that was different than a legitimate connection. She had wanted to keep this one closed just in case he…well, that was something to dwell on later. In this moment was pouring herself into the darkness, the long hallways dark and desolate.

_She lit a candle, the light of mind waves shining off the walls, other candles covered in spider webs and other things of the sort. Fortunately for her (for she had never been one for having a good sense of direction) the darkened hallway was only one direction either side, and the side that she had her back turned to, was her side of the link, her mind, the door shut tight. She kept walking, noticing how the hallway got narrower and narrower, noting to herself how hard Slender had shut the link. Soon enough, she had to fit sideways through the hallway and not long enough she had to stretch out her wings to fit. She traveled for what seemed like hours- which was probably only seconds in the human realm. But when her wing tip hit the frame of a door, she almost jumped out of her skin. It was an even tighter fit, now that she had to bunch up her wing to get to the door. And then there it was, three feet (if that) in front of her. She clenched her jaw, realizing this might be harder than she thought originally._

_She pressed her palm against the door, and immediately, she was through. _

_And it was everything at once._

_His mind, emotions (what were left of them), his pain. His, well, _everything.

_And it was going to make her sick. She hadn't experienced this much emotion in a long time and it wasn't pleasant. She knew anger, and happiness, and frustration. That was she felt a lot. Especially frustration._

_However, there was a single word- well, a name really- that stuck out in this flurry of emotions and thoughts. Aurora knew somewhere deep down that the kid had some sort of screwed-up rough impressions of emotions, if the emotion hadn't been experimented out of him. And she figured that it would come out at sometime, but _this _wasn't something she had expected to develop. One name, above them all, all of the chaos of emotions and pain. _

Leah

_Leah. Leah, the name that rang out, and when she focused on the word as well, silence fell. The silence was strong and harsh, and it made her ears ring. She jerked when his voice spoke, breaking that harsh silence. And again it repeated:_

Leah

_And Aurora floated in the darkness, her feet no longer touching the "floor". And she was shocked because it took her a second to realize that voice wasn't Slendy's 'brain' voice, but his actual one. His _human_ voice. And that's when all hell broke loose. _

_Her mind was suddenly attacked, leaving her unprepared and defenseless. And he was there, taking over her mind, ripping it apart, her memories lost and close kept, awakened and all playing at once. Three thousand years of compressed emotion suddenly awoken. Every bit of happiness, all of the pain from injuries, fury at S.F. or Canon now awake and living in her mind. It was pure _agony_ and she couldn't stress that feeling._

_Her student, the one she half raised from his 'childhood' was inside of her head, and although she trusted him to the end of the earth, she hated someone being inside her head, in her mind. She could hear her own screaming, fighting him for control. Even when she became a deity and her hourglass was broken, that pain was nothing compared to this- this- AGONY._

_There was no other word for it. And she was terrified because for once, for once in her life, she was sorely outmatched and that infuriated her. But the fury was short lived as another wave of pain and nausea overtook her. She was scared, and for again in her life alone in a situation she couldn't handle. Then, like a ray of light she could feel it, that presence that was always there, light and, well, beautiful. And she started thinking. Hard. There were two things she could do at this moment, neither of which were pleasant and one of those she would never even think of trying in this lifetime. She mentally shivered at it. So that left her with one choice: finish what she started this for and heal him. _

_And then there were instructions, not from her, she knew, and they guided her through it. She made a mental note to thank whoever it was later. She got about two steps through the process and she couldn't do it. She was in a serious amount of pain and she knew by default that her mental stability would be suffering to. She felt like, for the first time in a long time giving up. But that wouldn't suit her helper and it jolted her awake, back into the pain of her current situation. She made another mental note to slap her 'helper'. She growled. Why, if this kid knew everything, do it himself. Or herself. Aurora added, slightly frowning. Because she had to learn sometime. She also added mentally, knowing perfectly well that was the case._

_But still, this pain was unbearable and Ja—no, Slender was still in her head, all over her memories. Some, she wished to never have to see again. Or have anyone else see them, for that matter. She would also appreciate it if he would stay out of her personal thoughts- most of which were a little overly violent- but she knew he could see those two. She had to get this done. She meditated for a moment, her mind trying to form around the name that had surfaced. She thought it repeatedly until the noise went down and all thoughts started to hum the same tune. And then it was dark, and then light as she ope_ned her eyes back into the real world.

Immediately, upon awakening, she threw herself away from Slender and started breathing heavily. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't take anymore of this. She slid across the floor, on autopilot, and dragged herself up going to where she knew she would be safe.

I burst into camp, still breathing heavily and I knew I looked a little wired. My tribe mates were giving me strange looks and I knew perfectly well why. I wasn't supposed to be on duty today. I had told them I needed a day to get something done. They understood and I put Fighter in charge. I stopped one of the newer warriors, Leafstep, and asked him if he knew where Fighter was. He smiled softly and pointed towards Med Bay. I gave him a terrified look and his smile faded and he shook his head.

"No nothing's wrong with him, he's there talking to Echo, who just got back." He said. I nodded and raced for Medic. When I rounded the corner, I almost ran into Echo. She caught me, but stepped out of my way without a word, looking back to Fighter who was laughing at something Blackfang had said. Said warrior was in a bed, bandages (freshly changed) covering him. He was still smirking though, and that relaxed me a little. I crashed hard into Fighter, almost successfully knocking him over.

"Woah! Eas- Watersong?" He blinked at me. "I thought you were off-duty toda…." He trailed off upon seeing my face, gave a quick 'see ya later' to Blackfang and steered me into an empty room. He half slammed the door behind him and turned to me. He held the sides of my face with his hands, looking straight in my eyes, forgetting Alpha/Beta formalities. He didn't even bother calling me by my warrior name. "Aurora, what happened?" I stuttered over a few of my words, before swallowing and getting out:

"I t-tried. I should've called An….I just lost control and he…." His grip tightened and I knew he was thinking the worst. "He saw my memories." Fighter's eyes turned to slits, his grip tightening, a low growl ripping from his chest. Then he stopped, and he crushed me into a hug, his arms wrapping around me, encircling me in warmth. And I could feel it, a familiar calmness surrounding me. His lips pressed against my forehead, muttering soothing words in my ear. He had been there for almost all of the memories and the ones he hadn't been there for, he had seen. For once I was glad I had let Yaiba go off on his own, mainly because I could tell that he really wanted some alone time with his girlfriend.

"Aurora." Fighter said. "Look, I know you terrified right now, and probably have already had a panic attack, and it won't get better as was said before, but we need you and you can't just vanish on us again. Besides," He flashes me a grin. "I know what'll cheer you up. How does a round of sparring sound?" I nodded and we walked to the sparring area just outside of camp.

We each armed ourselves with different weapons: knives, swords, bows, the whole set. And we fought. At first, since my legs were still shaking pretty badly, and flashbacks were heavy it was hard to fight. I kept loosing, but Fighter kept pressing and eventually everything was blocked out and all I could hear was my own breathing. My thoughts stopped, and I was on autopilot again, for the second time that day. But it was peaceful this time, and I didn't mind.

Block, duck, drop, dragon tail, spin, jump, axe kick, knee block, step left, down under up, turn hips, uppercut.

And I could feel my muscles smooth, untangle, my brain and entire body calm down.

Sword, parry, thrust, drop sword, jump back, throwing knives, rip one out of shoulder, duck, drop, slide.

Blood splattered onto the sand and dirt below. Both mine and his, knuckles bleeding, open wounds dripping. And it was peace. My worst wound had to be my upper arm, sliced open from an arrow that I barely dodged. Fighter and I had a complicated relationship. We would fight as though to kill each other, but we never did. And a lot of people found this strange, considering the two of us were dating. But there was an understanding. A fight like this was meant to train or calm down. Hand-to-hand sparring rounds were to work off frustration and kick boxing was meant for demonstration. We were about the same height, so sparring with only our legs never really worked out and usually came as a tie in most cases.

Afterword, he was called out for a hunting party and I (reluctantly) went back to the house where Slender was. Upon entering, I immediately grabbed a first aid kit and began stitching my wounds that really needed it. And I knew that I would have to face him, but hopefully he would forget.

**A/N: fuck this chapter. Its 10:30 pm and I've had all of 5 hours of sleep this week and if you unfollow and/or unfavourite because of this chap I don't blame you in the least bit. The next one's a little better tho.**


	9. Waking Up

_You are brought before the senior council, bound by your hands, a thick, black collar around your neck. It was to suppress your powers, not that you have any, but they think you do. You are in the Underworld. Someone pushes you to the ground harshly and you slide about a foot forward, and rest at the girl's feet. You tilt your head up to see the woman who had taken care of you for the past three months. Her name is Aurora. She looks different, you think. So different. The black cloak that rests on her shoulders falls softly to the floor, making her look like the Death she is destined to be. The anger etched into her features doesn't help either. Her face was serious, her black hair pulled back. Her icy blue eyes blazed as she looked around the rounded, u-shaped table. Her eyes slide down to look at your trembling form. _

_"On your knees." You have never heard her voice that cold before, and it scares you. "It's more dignified than being on your face." It was true, you had yet to notice it but your face is smushed into the floor, where you had fallen. Beside Aurora, a short, thin girl wearing a red kimono looks over. She had her short, spiky brown pushed back with a few berets. Her golden eyes gazed at you sympathetically._

"_Don't be scared," She says softly, "Aurora's under a lot of stress. Besides, the council, like us, can smell your fear."She smiles at you, and you straighten up, as much as one could in chains._

"_Convene!" Someone, a male, yelled from the u-shaped table that Aurora had been glaring at. You look at the Kimono girl, your head tilted. You couldn't speak in this form, so you can't ask questions, but the two females have learned to read your body language. It would be years before you figure out how to speak in people's minds._

"_It means shut up." She mutters. You nod, you know it doesn't really, but you guess that in this foreign court it does. You turn your attention back towards the council. The man standing is older looking, gray softening the black colour of his hair. He has dark skin, an Asian face, and a lean frame. Around his eyes are wrinkles from smiling so much. You guess that means that outside of this court, his is happy. He does not appear as much right now. He stands with power, but not as much as Aurora has at this moment._

"_Thank you." He says to a now silent crowd. You don't understand why there are so many people here. "This trial will now begin." It is deathly quiet—so to speak—and it seems as though everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the next move. He sits, and another stands. He is younger, not as young as Death, but still young. His voice is harsh, as though he does not speak very often._

"_Defending the entrance privilege of human soul file C2- #376447- Viper, Aurora." He sits. Aurora stands. You don't understand the soul file thing, but you guess that that is you because you understand that Aurora is defending you. But, even after they've seen you, they still call you human. You smile a little on the inside. You can see Aurora's agitation in her stance. The others can too, for they shift awkwardly in their seats. Aurora begins to speak, but you aren't paying attention. Movement from the table catches you attention. You see the man on the end move a bag and pull out a notebook. You can only stare in shock. He is an exact replica of Death, but an older copy, and his eyes are dark green, unlike the icy blue of Death's. You notice this, but he looks a little like Aurora in the face. You shake your head clear and look back down at the floor._

"—_and he's stable."_

"_Stable? Like you?" Someone from the table upfront says._

"_Yeah, cute, Seven." Aurora responds with sarcasm._

"_That's sir, to you." The crowd goes silent then chuckles. You look up to see Aurora flipping him off. He laughs._

"_That doesn't help your case."She responds with a snarky comment. You stop paying attention again. The man who looks like Death is staring at you. You shift uncomfortably and avert your gaze. Aurora is mid rant when this look-alike interrupts her._

"_And what is to become of this…thing?" He asks, still staring at you. Aurora starts. She and Echo exchange a weird look, and most of the people give her the same look._

"_Well, we'll send him back into human realm, and will live with a human guardian until he's accustomed to his realm in that form and then he'll live on his own." She sounds stunned that he would even consider letting me free. Somewhere in the back of your mind you wonder why._

"_Then what does he need access to the Underworld for?" The man asks._

"_He needs to be some place safe to grow. Mentally."_

"_This thing, he is of human origin right?"_

"_Yes, we've established that." Aurora snaps at him. He frowns at her._

"_Well…if he stays out of trouble I don't see a problem with it. We might as well take a vote." He smiles coldly. "All in favor?"_

"_Yes." They say, not exactly all at the same time, but close enough. Then Death stands._

"_Aurora, before I agree, I have a question."_

"_Yes brother?" She pronounces 'brother' with sarcasm._

"_You're not a mother, you've never raised children. How will you take care of him?" Someone in the back stands up._

"_I'll help her."_

"_And me."_

"_Me as well."_

"_Human DNA or not, he's better off here. I'll help too." You look up at Aurora's shocked face._

"_Thank you Sector 12, you may sit." Seven says from the table, amusement in his voice, though you don't understand why._

"_Does that answer your question?"Aurora asks with venom. Death glares at her for a moment and she makes a face, their conversation going on in a mind link between the two. She growls lowly at him and he snarls back at her. You can see the feathers on her wings spike, her blue eyes changing to gold. He notices this too, and almost immediately backs off. _

"_Besides," Aurora said coldly, "He's not 2 years old—"_

"_You're right, he's 5." Someone from the table says, cutting her off. You hear a murrmer arise from the crowd._

"_5? In that form I thought he was older!"_

"_Nah, you've seen the other shit the humans have done, I'm not surprised." Someone else responds. People go silent again with a sign from the look-alike. _

"_Besides," Aurora growled, agitated from being interrupted. "As I said, he's not 2; he can take care of most things by himself." Death sighed._

"_I agree, let him stay." He turned to Aurora. "But, I've already given you a warning. And I _will_ carry through with it, so don't test me." He sat down, and nodded at the one called Seven. Seven shrugged and stood, grinning at Aurora._

"_Alright, and with a unanimous decision, it's passed. Human here can stay." There was a light cheer from about everyone and things slowly fade into darkness. _

Things come back into view. Slender sits up, a hand on his head.

/Damn./ He mutters, groaning at the pain in his arm. Aurora is floating nearby, self-stitching a wound. He stands, lifting himself off the couch and looks around.

/Where's Leah?/ He asked, rolling his healthy shoulder. Aurora slides her eye to the side to look at slender, unable to turn her head because of the stitching wire between her teeth. She flicked her eyes upwards, towards room upstairs.

/She's asleep, though, so don't bother going up there./ She said, her voice echoing in the German's mind. He nodded and sat back down with a sigh. He'd just have to wait until she woke up.


End file.
